Jacoby Brissett – October 6, 2021
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Wednesday, October 6, 2021
QB Jacoby Brissett
(You get to see QB Tom Brady this week. A former teammate, a former friend I’m sure, mentor. How did he make you better when you were in the locker room with him?) – “I think just watching him and seeing his level of professionalism and his love for the game, his attention to detail and everything that he brought to being a quarterback and setting the standard of a quarterback. I think just watching that so young in my career is something that you try to emulate in your own fashion. I think it was very beneficial (for me).”
(On that subject, we love the Wolfpack photos and former memories. I don’t know if there was something specific that you could share with us. Every former teammate has a QB Tom Brady story. Was there a conversation or an interaction or experience with him that stands out to you?) – “Well, one day we were – it was during training camp and everybody is playing games in the locker room while we’re on break. And I was playing and he walked into the locker room and was like ‘What are you doing? Didn’t you just mess up this in practice? Then you shouldn’t be playing.’ (I was like) ‘Alright.’ So ever since then, I never play games in the locker room anymore. (laughter) That was when I really saw full Tom. I thought it was pretty cool though.”
(Knowing the kind of work and pressure that comes along with being an NFL quarterback, are you kind of in awe that QB Tom Brady is able to continue to do this at 44 years old?) – “It’s definitely inspirational for sure. It’s no surprise though. Like when you know him and you see all of the behind-the-scenes things that he puts into getting ready for a game and getting his body ready and his mind set, there’s no surprise that he’s doing what he’s doing. What is he – 44 (years old)? Yeah and I met him six years ago. He was ‘old’ (then). It’s definitely cool to see.”
(What was it like when you first stepped into the Patriots locker room and there’s QB Tom Brady? Were you awestruck in any way? How did he react to you?) – “I mean the first time I met him was on my visit there. He popped into the meeting room during OTAs and that was when I first met him. He walked in and was like, ‘Hey, I’m Tom.’ Like obviously we knew who you are. (laughter) But then it was just like alright – once I got to the team, we obviously knew who each other were. My locker was right next to his. I think we just hit it off and became friends.”
(What do you say to your teammates? This is a young team. They are excited but you have a losing record until now. What do you say coming into this game? You know QB Tom Brady personally, Head Coach Brian Flores knows him personally. What do you say to those young teammates that may be a little excited but unsure of the pressures of this game?) – “Well, there’s nothing wrong with being excited. I mean you get to play an NFL game. That’s exciting every week no matter if you’re 22 years in the league or one year in the league. That doesn’t change. So just go out there, be excited and have fun. But understand the intent of the game is not like you’re going to watch Tom play. We’re going to win. I think these players know that. It’s the start of the second quarter of the season. Obviously the first quarter didn’t go as well as we wanted it to, but we get to start over this quarter of the season and it starts this week.”
(There was a play during the Colts game last week where WR Jaylen Waddle was coming on a crossing route and it seemed like WR DeVante Parker was going a little bit long. It seemed like both of those guys were open but you checked it down. What were some things that you saw on that play that led to the check down?) – “I possibly had a chance to do it. But they gave us the coverage that we didn’t want on that play. So instead of just firing it in there, which I’m sure you probably would have liked for me to do, just taking the smart play. I know when you look back on this like alright, I’m not taking down the field throws. But at some point, you’ve got to put the team first and not do that. Obviously there’s certain times where you do do it, but I think right now, trying to learn that balance of when to obviously take those chances and then when to not. I think it’s a work in progress. I think it’s something that we’re able to – you go out there and it looks like you’re failing at it and not doing it right but you come back and you’re like ‘hey, what did you see,’ and being able to have those conversations. I think that’s the good part of that is it’s happening earlier in the season and obviously you want to go out there and execute every play and do it every time, but you won’t. So coming back and watching it and just seeing what do I think, what do I internally think, if I could have made a throw or not, and not just doing it because everybody is saying we need to do it.”
(Could playing up-tempo early maybe help replicate the success that you and WR DeVante Parker and TE Mike Gesicki and others have had late in the last couple of games. Could that be one avenue that might help you?) – “We’ll see. Obviously we’re trying to figure it out. We’re obviously exploring every option. We’re still getting better as a team so it’s not like we’ve just got to change everything that we’re doing because things haven’t gone our way. Like I said in the press conference after the game, we are getting better in situations. Like pointing out the play to DeVante, the week before I missed him. This week I hit him two to three times on the exact same play on the exact same throw. It’s slowly getting better. I’m getting better in this offense. I’m learning the guys. I’m learning where my spots are on the field with these guys. We are getting better. We obviously wanted it to go a little bit better with the results of the game but at some point, you surrender the result of the game for the greater good of getting better each week and week out. I think that’s what we’re doing and hopefully the results will start to come.”
(Do you feel like that process of learning your guys, your teammates, do you feel like that’s made you hesitant at all these past few weeks to maybe not take the aggressive play and take that smart play?) – “I don’t think that’s been the case because as you saw the game before in the (Las Vegas) game, I still did it but we just didn’t capitalize. Then obviously when you go back out there and you do hit it, it’s like ‘why haven’t you guys been doing this?’ Well we did, we just didn’t hit it. I think we are taking our chances. Obviously certain teams are seeing that we’re trying to take chances and they present coverages that we can’t just chuck it down the field. Yeah, I think we’ll have more chances, whenever they appear, and hopefully we’re ready to hit them.”
(Do you have a vision for what you want this offensive identity to be? A vision, a goal, an idea?) – “I want to score every time we touch the ball. That’s the vision.”
